Parliamentary panel slams Centre for Pathankot attack

A Parliamentary panel pulled up the Centre over lack of adequate counter-terror mechanisms in place while noting that something was seriously wrong in the country's security establishment. Criticising the government over its failure to prevent the Pathankot terror attack, the parliamentary standing committee on Home said that security at the airbase was not robust.

Seven security personnel were killed in the attack carried out by Pakistan based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad on January 2. In its report, the panel further observed that the role of Punjab Police in the Pathankot terror attack was also suspicious.

Noting it had failed to understand how the terrorists managed to breach the highsecurity airbase and subsequently carry out the strike in spite of a terror alert sounded well in advance, the panel said it was constrained that security agencies were so ill-prepared to anticipate threats and counter them swiftly and decisively.

The panel, which had visited the Pathankot airbase, had found that there were no roads along the perimeter wall of the airbase. Instead, there were shrubs and trees on the premises which helped terrorists hide there and make it difficult for the security forces to flush them out.

The panel mentioned there could not be two opinions that JeM was behind the ghastly attack saying that it was established through intercepted phone calls between terrorists and their handlers. The panel said that the ease with which the terrorists sneaked in indicated that the attack could not have taken place without active support from the security and intelligence agencies of Pakistan.